


A New Start

by Simbeline



Category: POKÉMON Detective Pikachu (2019)
Genre: Contemplation, Gen, Sort of a springboard piece more than a complete work, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 07:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18774376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simbeline/pseuds/Simbeline
Summary: After just a week, Tim realizes there are some practical considerations to uprooting your life, and that means he'll have to go back to his hometown for a bit to sort things out. While there he makes a surprising connection.





	A New Start

**Author's Note:**

> Saw the movie and then immediately wanted to write a thing. Spoilers abound, if anyone cares about spoilers with this movie.

After a week, Tim decides he probably shouldn't have thrown away the rail ticket because all his stuff is still at his Grandma's house and as nostalgic as it is to live in a copy of your childhood bedroom for about 2 seconds, it becomes awkward once he lets himself spend too much time there.

He may not be avoiding all things Pokemon anymore, but he's not 12 and he doesn't need a Pikachu bed. Dad-Pikachu was right, it's a little creepy.

Plus, in the practical sense, it's also too short. He was a short 12-year-old apparently.

It's also just not quite the same as it was with Dad-Pikachu. Part of it was that he didn't know it was his dad, it could just be a new relationship. Part of it was the knowledge that Pikachu couldn't talk to any other human. He could have these weird one-sided conversations with the knowledge that Pikachu would keep his secrets (well, from other humans anyway).

His Dad, as a human, is harder to trust. He wishes he'd been more open to his Dad reaching out, but it's also kind of the parent's responsibility to keep trying, maybe come visit once in a while. Kids shouldn't have to be the bigger person, and parents shouldn't just take one shot and then never try again.

So he wants some space to clear his head too, maybe, even aside from all the practical reasons to leave.

But he doesn't tell his Dad that. He lays out the practical reasons - officially quitting his job, getting some stuff from Grandma, whatever. He says he'll just be gone a few days, and gets on the train back out to the country. 

He casually asks his Dad to maybe adultify his bedroom a little before he gets back. His Dad comments that maybe the Pikachu bed is a little creepy, and apologizes to his Pikachu for making him live with that. Tim smiles. Maybe his Dad's memories of while he was a Pikachu are a little muddled, but he's still the same person.

That's something he can live with. 

\-------------------------------------

His Grandma is happy to see him, and quietly pleased that he made up with his Dad, he can tell. She'd always supported his decisions as a kid, but he can tell she thought he should have gone to live with his Dad back then. Even if it meant leaving her behind. 

He regrets not living with his Dad, but at the same time, he doesn't regret growing up with her. Maybe in some ideal world, they could have all lived together and he'd have been a better person.

But he doesn't think he's that bad anymore either. A failure of a Pokemon trainer, definitely, but somehow he doesn't feel defeated by that the way he did just a few days ago. He used to think that was his one shot at being someone amazing, but he can be... maybe not amazing, but not bad either. 

He stands outside his Grandma's house and looks over the grass in the yard. There's a Pidgey chasing a Rattata, and he can see a Fearow in a tree behind the fence. He doesn't feel like avoiding having a Pokemon partner anymore, but that doesn't mean he has to rush into it. If he's meant to meet one, he will.

\-------------------------------------

The next few days are hectic - but in a boring way. Quitting a full-time job suddenly means paperwork and cleaning out his desk and saying goodbye. Since he has more than 2 weeks vacation saved up, at least he can give the required 2 weeks notice but then actually not go back to work at all. And, since he never really talked to anyone while working there, no one's really sad to see him go. 

He packs the things he wants from the house into a couple of boxes. He realizes he doesn't actually need much and his Grandma could have probably shipped it to him, but that isn't the point of this trip anyway. 

As much as he loves Ryme City, the countryside is better for quiet contemplation and figuring shit out. 

On his last day, he decides to hike out into the forest and walk along the river. If he wants to do the whole internal revelation whatever thing that he's trying to do, where he gets over his past resenting his Dad is able to move on, he may as well try doing the thing people do in the movies where they go off somewhere and come back changed.

Although he kind of already did that when he went to Ryme City. Whatever.

He's trying his best.

And as he walks he thinks of all the moments where his Dad tried. When he was little, his Dad was the best. Vibrant, energetic, exciting. Tim never really got his Dad's humor when he was a kid, but he remembered the way his Mom laughed all the time. 

The way she laughed less after Dad moved to Ryme City for work, but was always happy to see him.

The way Dad made Mom smile even when she was so frail and sick in the hospital.

The birthday cards, the presents. Tim figures maybe his Grandma told his Dad that he forced himself to turn away from gifts he knew were from his Dad, and wonders if maybe some of the "from Grandma" gifts over the years were actually from his Dad. He'll have to ask. 

So maybe his Dad did try, tried a lot actually. But Tim is pretty stubborn - in good and bad ways - and couldn't accept the overtures. And after a while, rejection just became a habit.

He's glad his Dad isn't actually dead, but it was the kick in the pants he needed to realize he still actually cares, even if he told himself for years he didn't.

He smiles and knows he can live with his Dad for sure now. Things'll probably still be awkward - maybe even really awkward - but he can let go of his resentment and start on the best possible footing.

He settles on a rock beside the river and leans back on his hands. He watches the Magikarp swim downstream from the lake. The Gyarados there must be spawning for there to be this many around.

A strange color catches his eye, a shade of purple that doesn't belong in the forest.

He freezes, his breath catching in his throat.

Mewtwo.

Mewtwo seems to have just noticed him too because he tenses like he's preparing to leave.

"Hey, it's ok!" Tim shouts. "It's Tim! Uh... Harry's son Tim? From Ryme City?"

 _Ah, the son._ He hears. Thinks? Let's go with hears because psychic communication is kind of a new thing for him. 

"How come you call Dad by his name but I get to be 'the son'?" Tim asks.

There's a pause. _I do not normally learn humans' names._ Mewtwo says. Thinks? Says. _However, you did assist me as your father did so I will learn yours. Tim._

Tim feels quietly pleased and grins. "Thanks! I'm glad you got away all right."

 _No human could hold me without surprise and technology on their side._ Mewtwo says tensely, combative. 

"Well, hopefully there'll be fewer surprises in your future I guess."

He can see Mewtwo's posture relax in surprise. _I know you and your father don't agree I should be used for experimentation, but even your father thinks I should find a human partner._

"Yeah well." Tim pauses. "I guess I'm not as against Pokemon partners as I used to be, but people shouldn't be treated like they're weird for not having one. Everyone in my entire life thinks the only thing I need to not be lonely is a Pokemon partner, but having a Pokemon in your life doesn't magically solve your issues. Even with Pikachu... well, my Dad-as-Pikachu, it was because I was raw from thinking my Dad was dead that I was a bit more open to it, right?"

He realizes during his monologue Mewtwo has flown across the river to settle on the rock beside him, probably to hear him better. It seems like a small thing, but he can't remember the last time someone who wasn't his Grandma was interested enough in what he had to say to actually stop and move closer. It's nice.

Also somewhat nerve-wracking that it's _freaking Mewtwo_ that's so interested, but he carries on. "But that Pikachu was actually my Dad, and the real Pikachu is nice, but different. Plus he's my Dad's partner anyway."

He pauses, getting back to the point. If there even is a point. "Uh... I don't know if it's the same with Pokemon, but I guess what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't be pressured? If I learned anything in Ryme City it's that partners should choose to stay together. Without a Pokeball making the partnership permanent, Pokemon have more freedom to leave if they want to. That's probably for the best, you know? I never realized how much Pokeballs put control in the hands of the human. Even if we can't talk to each other," he looks over at Mewtwo. "Well, can't normally talk to each other, we can make ourselves understood I think. People should try to communicate and grow with Pokemon rather than just using technology to bind Pokemon to them. Maybe if that one ideal stays, out of all the stupid and weird things Howard thought, that would be ok."

There's a long silence. Tim doesn't think he said anything offensive, but what does he know, right? Maybe even the concept of Pokemon partnering with humans is too fraught for Mewtwo. He's probably been captured enough that even Ryme City's idea of loose partnerships might be too much. It's still kind of... committed.

_Are most humans good, like you and your father?_ Mewtwo asks. _If they are, then perhaps Pokemon choosing to live with humans is understandable._

Tim feels flattered, but also like he has to correct some assumptions Mewtwo seems to have made. "I mean, I don't know if I'd say I'm good. Like, I hope most people would be against all that experimentation stuff, but being against something as wrong as that doesn't necessarily make you good I think that just makes you... not a terrible person, probably." 

Mewtwo looks over at him curiously, _Elaborate._

"Well, you know, look at me and my Dad. We're both so bad at communicating that we didn't talk to each other for almost 10 years. He was distant and didn't know how to reach out in a way I'd accept, so even though he cared I didn't know. And I was so stubborn and hurt and grieving my mother that I couldn't... couldn't accept it when he asked me to go live with him. But like, he could have asked again and again, you know? Instead, he backed off. Maybe it was the right thing to do, maybe it wasn't, but we were both... not so great to each other, you know? So maybe goodness is kind of relative." 

_You were able to repair your relationship with your father,_ Mewtwo says. _In the end, you were good with that as well._

"Thanks," Tim says quietly. 

_I don't want a human partner,_ Mewtwo says firmly. _However... I would like to know you better._ Mewtwo looks down, eye ridges furrowed in confusion. _It is the first time I have desired to know a human better._

"O...kay?" Tim says dumbly, not sure where this is going. 

_Would it be acceptable to stay with you, for a time?_

"In Ryme City? Uh... yes? I mean, if you want to. I'm sure there's enough room in my Dad's apartment for both of us." Tim says. He doesn't think about any possible complications related to people wanting to capture Mewtwo or anything like that. He just... maybe wants to get to know Mewtwo better too. 

_Together, then._ Mewtwo says. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is more of an idea than anything. I don't know if I'll ever continue it so if it inspires you, feel free to use some or all of the ideas here for your own stuff.


End file.
